BRITISH Aerospace today revealed record order books and profits up by 30 per cent to more than £11 million a week.

The figures are great news for the company's 12,000 employees in Lancashire, and many thousands more in other aerospace-related companies in the county.

Underlying pre-tax profits rose to £596 million and the orders for new aircraft including the Eurofighter and civilian Airbus passenger planes stood at over £22 billion.

Chief executive Dick Evans said: "The strong performance was a combination of further improvements in both our defence and commercial aerospace activities.

"The outlook for a number of our key programmes is good as we move forward from recovery to sustainable growth based on effective market positions and excellent order books in both our defence and Airbus activities." December saw the final four-nation signature to the Eurofighter project, launching the long-awaited plane into production.

The company has also delivered more Tornado bombers to Saudi Arabia as part of the huge Al Yamamah contract, as well as handing over the first of 142 upgraded Tornado GR4 bombers to the Royal Air Force.

British Aerospace has also teamed up with American giant Lockheed Martin on a number of military projects, including the next generation fighter for the US.

It was a record year for Airbus Industrie, the European venture in which BAe is the UK partner, with deliveries rising from 126 to 182 aircraft. The year ended with a backlog of orders for 1,009 aircraft, worth 72 billion dollars (£43 billion).

Talks are continuing on moves to turn Airbus into a stand alone company with its own management.

British Aerospace shareholders get a 25% increase in their total dividend to 19.53p.

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